About this project

Welcome to the Bicycle Comfort rEvolution!

We have designed a new bike that has everyone talking! People are saying "The BananaHama is ...

...the most comfortable bike I ever rode!

...this is so much fun!

...the future is here!

.

Comments like these have inspired us to bring you the BananaHama on Kickstarter so YOU can be part of our unique journey.

The BananaHama Bike is the brainchild of Brent Ingrim who had an epiphany after riding a typical bike for a couple hours at the beach one day. Brent, an accomplished metal designer/artist set out to marry the comfort of a hammock with the leisure of a bike ride and wound up designing a frame shaped like a banana - hence the name BananaHama.

BanananHama Yellow Cruiser with Surf Board attachment

This just in...

The BIKES will be on the Today Show at 9am on Friday June 28th!! Watch for them.

Also - Welcome all IBDs! Lets make this rock!

We had our Kickstarter Launch Party a week ago Friday and Roy Wallack, the columnist from the LA Times Gear and Fitness section had a chance to ride our latest bike on the top of the roof of the LA Athletic Club. His review was due out this past Saturday, but got pushed to this Saturday. So we asked Roy for a quote and this is what he said:

"This is an incredibly fun and comfortable bike that even non-cyclists will love. I'm going to give this a great review in my next column." — Roy M. Wallack, L.A. Times fitness gear columnist, while riding the BananaHama at its press debut in downtown L.A. on May 31.

" It's a fun, smile-pasted-on-your-face
riding experience."

"The height-adjustable hammock gives great shock absorption. You barely feel it when you go off a curb."

The Ride

The ride on our bike is unlike any other you have experienced. It has more comfort than even the best recumbent bike, AND your feet are firmly planted below you. Also with the BananaHama you can sit upright and get an excellent leg workout.

The BananaHama Ruby Red in Venice Beach

Why You Should Be Excited!

When we started out on our journey to crowd-funding and launching our company, we had a patent pending on this unique design and technology. As of last week our design patent has been approved by the US Patent Office without so much as a single dispute. Our utility patent is still pending.

As we were developing and showing this bike to people some would tell us it's just a resort bike or just good for the beaches. We had a different vision- One that said ALL riders, both experienced bikers and casual ones would enjoy riding this bike in any town, city or suburb on any street- weather permitting... which brings us to another point. Weather permitting, in this case means no snow or ice, because unlike any other bike, the BananaHama has an optional canopy!

So we set out to test our theory and contacted the top two bike consultants in the entire bicycle industry - Jay Townley and Elliot Gluskin. (check their bios here.) To make a long story short, they basically told us if we do everything right, BananaHama LLC can be a huge company because for every “biker” out there, there are six casual riders who don’t ride that often mainly due to the lack of comfort! In fact, Jay and Elliot were so inspired by our idea, they agreed to assist us in building our company!

Please don't keep this excitement to yourself - share this link and story with your friends so they can go on the ride too.

Why You Should Want One If You're A..

Casual Rider:

The BananaHama is perfect for you because it exponentially increases the comfort factor of a close-to-typical bike ride and provides an excellent workout for your legs.

Recumbent Rider:

Many if not most of you, ride recumbent bikes for comfort but you can find EVEN MORE on a BananaHama AND not be low to the ground with your feet elevated.

Hard Core Biker.

You always have many bikes. You always want the next cool bike... and the BananaHama fills that spot perfectly. Besides, if you don't end up riding it as much as you thought you would, someone in your family or your roommate is bound to!

BananaHama Beach Cruiser - Our basic model that comes in five color choices has the following specifications:

Wheels - 24"

Frame - 88"L (edge of tires) x 44-50"H

(top of hama bar adjustable)

Brakes - Front - Linear Pull, Rear - Disc

Pedals - 9/16 '' REFLECTOR w/Ball

Handle Bars - Black adjustable Ape Hangers

Gears - Shimano Alivo 18 speed

Hama - Sunbrella

(Specifications subject to change)

BananaHama Urban

BananaHama Urban - Our upgraded model that comes in brown and black finish with a leatherette covered Hama has the following specifications:

Wheels - 24"

Frame - 88"L (edge of tires) x 44-50"H

(top of hama bar adjustable)

Brakes - Front - Linear Pull, Rear - DIsc

Pedals - 9/16 '' REFLECTER w/Ball Multi-Coloroed

Handle Bars - Black adjustable Ape Hangers

Gears - Shimano Alivo 27 speed

Hama - Leatherette outer liner, Sunbrella inner liner

(Specifications Subject to Change)

The Differences:

Our adult BananaHama models are the same with differences in their color, gears, forks, pedals and attachments, which will make them easy to order and enable us to produce and fulfill them quicker.

The Morphable MINI in Purple

MINI with a happy rider!

The BananaHama Mini - Our Morphable Stroller/Childs Bike has the following specifications:

Wheels - Front - 14" Rear - 10"

Frame - 36"L x 24"H

Weight - 25lbs

Brakes - Stroller Parking Brake

Pedals - 4"x3"

Handle Bars -24" width

Hama - Sunbrella

(Specifications Subject to Change)

The HAMA

Our unique comfort seat that we affectionately call the HAMA is made out of Sunbrella material that is sun and tear resistant. We will be offering two types - cushioned and un-cushioned. Your choice can be made at the completion of the campaign. If you opt for the HAMA Reward, rest assured that we will take care of you when you make the move to complete your bike.

Also, we are currently in negotiations with some excellent fashion designers to make some truly stand out HAMAS!

The Ruby Red with White Faux Fur Lining

Not enough choices? - check out our customization video clip:

What We Need & What You Get

After a year of tweaking and tuning we are almost ready to release the BananaHama to the world. Our patented design and patent pending technology is ready for mass production. We have been working with a company in China to build the bikes and a group in Los Angeles to fabricate the Hama (that is our name for the innovative seat design - see below). We have come to Kickstarter to raise the initial funds to finance the first production run, get the word out and launch our company.

As mentioned, we are working with two of the top consultants in the bicycling industry with combined experience of over 50 years at companies like Schwinn and Giant to assist us in moving forward.

We believe that the added comfort of riding upright on the BananaHama will lead to a whole new segment of bike riders who have stayed away from the industry's current bikes due to either comfort or being too low to the ground or both. This new segment of riders will be motivated by the BananaHama to take advantage of both the personal health and environmental advantages of riding a bike.

This factor plus bicycle industry trends validate our position that we are at the start of something very big. And YOU can help us to get it all started!

The perks we are offering include a great discount on the retail price of our bikes and the total satisfaction of knowing you were there at the beginning helping to make the BananaHama a fabulous success!

Shipping and Color Choices

Our bikes will be offered in a number of colors both for the frame and the HAMAs. These choices will be made after the campaign is completed. The more we sell on the campaign the more choices we will have so please help us out by telling your friends about BananaHama.

As for shipping, we are working out a system of delivering the bikes to your local bicycling retailer who can then optionally assist you in assembling your BanananHama as well as providing you with some great accessories to add on to your bike. If you are not near a participating retailer, then the bike will be shipped to you with an additional $40 charge.

Special Events during the Campaign

We are planning a number of riding events at various locations across the LA area beaches as well as inland. Subscribe to the BananaHama newsletter on our site to keep up to date.http://Bananahama.com

Comments and Feedback from people that have seen the bike first hand:

“Bike, Bike, BIKE!! My Bike?” - Brent’s 2 year old grandson when his mom takes him off the MINI.

“My boyfriend bought me the best seat for my beach crusier we could find and it still kills my ass - this is the answer” - A girl who saw us filming on the beach.

“This bike will actually get me riding a bike again” - a friend who was a casual bike rider.

"This Bike has a place in my garage" - A man who rode one for 3 minutes at CICLAVIA on 4/21

If you have further questions or concerns, please send us an email or comment and we will address them post-haste.

And Now Without Further Ado..

Check out some of our videos to get a good idea of just how cool and fun riding the BananaHama can be:

First the BananaHama MINI:

Now a ride and a quote from Roy Wallack:

Next, a short clip showing the bike climbing a steep hill and some great feedback from first-time riders. The final rider is Craig who is the insurance agent to the bike industry. We LOVE his comment!

Our Urban Downtown Los Angeles Mega Video - turn up your sound!

Our Venice Beach Boogie Video Clip:

The BananaHama Pot Hole Test Video

Risks and challenges

We know that as funders you want to know what your risks are in helping us fund our project just as we want to know what risks we face in making and marketing such a new concept.

To that end, we sought out the two people in the bike industry who were referred to us by the head of the Retail Bike Association. We decided to present to them our idea first and see what happens. You can hear their response at the end of our main video clip up top. They like the BananaHama products so much they have agreed to assist us around all of the "gotchas" a new company like ours with very little initial experience in the bike industry can run into. From testing to insurance to outsourcing to reaching out and involving the Independent BIke Retailer (IBDs) establishments, they have worked with us to make sure we dot ALL the I's and cross.. well you get it.
So that makes us feel really good about our prospects and it should do the same for anyone who watches the videos and can see just how much fun it is to ride on a BananaHama.

We have spent over $50,000 in the development phase and have a sample bike from our manufacturer that we have been riding and testing.

By backing this project you will enable us to bring the BananaHama Bikes to the marketplace and allow us to create new and exciting models in the future.

We believe that if enough people find out about BananHama during our Kickstarter launch this could really be the start of something very big!
So please help us spread the word.

Support this project

Select this reward

Pledge $10 or more
About $10

Low on funds? Show your support and we will send you a limited edition "From the Beaches to the Streets" BananaHama 18" x 24" Poster. You will get all updates and have funder's access to special BananaHama deals going forward.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $28 or more
About $28

BANANAHAMA TEE. Not only will you be helping us fund, but by wearing our cool artist drawn tee around town you will be spreading the word on the BananaHama rEvolution! We will also include the poster from the first perk..

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $60 or more
About $60

THE BANANAHAMA HAMA. Not ready to take the full plunge? No problem, you can still help us big time by purchasing a Hama seat now and adding the bike later which will be offered to you online at great price for the bike less the price of the HAMA. Of course you will achieve funder status going forward with BananaHama.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $175 or more
About $175

THE BANANAHAMA MINI Basic Model

You get a great deal on the ultimate young kids' bike! Retail for this item will be $220. Be the first in your neighborhood to show off the coolest kids bike on the planet! This is the Mini WITHOUT Stroller Attachment or Canopy. Its suitable for ages 3 to 6 unless your kid is 2 and his name is Wilt. Shipping is included in the US only. See our shipping and pickup policy in the main text. Funder's status is included.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $220 or more
About $220

BananaHama MINI plus Canopy. This is the wonder Mini from above PLUS the uber cool canopy in your choice of a couple colors to be decided after funding. The retail on this will be around $260. Shipping included **.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $270 or more
About $270

The MINI Stroller/Trike. This is the full tilt Morphable MINI, Bike, Canopy, Stroller attachments. It will be around $320 retail. It will take your 8 month old and prepare them for a full life of comfort bicycling on their BananaHamas! Almost like growing up your whole life with cell phones and Facebook.
US Shipping is included **.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $680 or more
About $680

The BananaHama Beach Cruiser. You will be the proud owner of one the first BananaHamas in your choice of one of five colors. You will be sent a survey or link to choose your color after your pledge. Delivery is free to pick up at a participating bike dealer or you pay the extra cost to ship direct. The retail price of this bike is $750.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $5,000 or more
About $5,000

The BananaHama Custom - This is a fully customized (by Brent) model for those of you that want the finest upgrade ride known to man or woman. It will feature upgraded gears and brakes, a special paint job, a special custom Hama, a wireless stereo system and other amenities.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $10,000
About $10,000

This is the bike fanatic reward! It includes the previous reward - the Custom and in addition you will accompany us as part of the BananaHama Team on three bike show events in the next year (including Inter-Bike in Las Vegas). Airfare and accommodations are not included.